Try to find a good role model—someone who is similar to you in relevant respects, is a couple of years ahead of you, who has done something you think is awesome, and who you can talk to and observe to some extent. Bill Gates is probably not a good role model.
Try to form a realistic assessment of how important college actually is; people often err in imagining it to be more or less important than it is in reality (these errors seem to be correlated with social class). I would estimate that the 4 years of college are only modestly more important than other years of your life. What you do right after college is important. What you do when you’re in your late 20s is important.
I would add two ideas:
Try to find a good role model—someone who is similar to you in relevant respects, is a couple of years ahead of you, who has done something you think is awesome, and who you can talk to and observe to some extent. Bill Gates is probably not a good role model.
Try to form a realistic assessment of how important college actually is; people often err in imagining it to be more or less important than it is in reality (these errors seem to be correlated with social class). I would estimate that the 4 years of college are only modestly more important than other years of your life. What you do right after college is important. What you do when you’re in your late 20s is important.